Council Vote Sparks Transparency Concerns Over 11-Acre Sheridan Springs Property Deal
LAKE GENEVA, WI — The fix was in from the beginning, and anyone who tells you different is either a fool or on the take. Mayor Todd Krause came through for Good Ol Boy Ex-Mayor Tom Hartz with a no bid sale of some of the last buildable land the City of Lake Geneva owns on Sheridan Springs Road. Mayor Todd broke a 4 to 4 tie vote on the sale of 11 acres of land abutting the Hillmoor Nature preserve at the City Council on January 26, 2026.
Voting to sell the land to Tom Hartz of Simple Food were Council Vice President Cindy Yager, Alderpersons: Sherri Ames, Linda Frame, and Cathy Stoodley. Voting against the prearranged transaction were Joel Hoiland, JaNelle Powers, Brian Smith and Council President Mary Jo Fesenmaier.
The vote concluded months of backroom negotiations that would make a Chicago ward boss blush a masterclass in how to legally fleece the public trust while maintaining the fiction of democratic process. Questions swirled like cheap whiskey in a dirty glass about municipal transparency and whether taxpayers got anything resembling fair market value for prime public property, or if they’d just been sold down the river by their own elected officials.
Public Outcry Over Process
The citizens who bothered to show up weren’t buying what the council was selling not for a goddamn minute.
John Nelson stepped to the microphone and delivered a haymaker of truth: “it sure gives the appearance of being a transaction that has previously been determined outcome. At the very least, the property should have been on the Wisconsin surplus auctions website since you as a governing body had previously labeled them as such surplus property. I’m seeing vacant parcels of land for Sale by new municipalities from all around the state on that website.”
Translation: This thing stinks worse than a three-day-old fish, and everybody knows it.
Local developer Chicago Bob a man who understands the economics of real estate the way a shark understands blood in the water dismantled their amateur-hour corruption with surgical precision. “This is some of the last parcels in the city to be developed…. as It taxpayers, we own that props, We deserve a fair price. Now why you didn’t market this? Through some of our fine Realtors, commercial Realtors, it’s beyond me,” he told the council, his voice dripping with the kind of contempt usually reserved for carnival barkers and street hustlers.
Bob wasn’t finished eviscerating their shoddy mathematics. “That this property is probably valued at 1.1 to $3,000,000 depending on what you’re going to put on it. It makes a big difference whether it’s a donut shop, bakery or a hotel drives, income drives, how many people come here?”
Then came the coup de grâce, delivered with the weary exasperation of a man watching public officials commit fiscal malpractice in slow motion: “Your appraisal was ordered. It matters because you’re going to change the zoning on this property and it’s going to be more valuable. Why wouldn’t you have done that before you ordered the appraisal and after?”
Sweet Jesus. Get the appraisal AFTER you rezone the land that makes it worth triple? That would make sense if you gave a damn about your fiduciary duty. But these people were operating on a different wavelength entirely one tuned to the frequency of Good Ol’ Boy favoritism.
Dan Schermerhorn, executive investment manager for the Geneva Square Shopping Center, rolled in with the kind of cold professional analysis that makes politicians break out in night sweats. “In a little bit of time that we’ve known about this and gotten involved in looking at it, I can tell you that the value that we would put on it is certainly higher, significantly higher than what you have in front of you, especially if you’re going to change zoning,” Schermerhorn testified, essentially telling them they were leaving millions on the table.
“I would suggest that we put the brakes on this and look at other opportunities to incorporate a mixed-use, whether senior housing or other type of residential in addition to the restaurant and the bakery and the and the school that Simple is proposing.”
But brakes? Who needs brakes when you’re riding the gravy train straight into Favoritism Station?
Geneva-Square-Sheridan-Springs-Letter-of-InterestHartz Makes Case for Community Impact
Tom Hartz, understanding that you can’t buy this kind of property without greasing the emotional wheels, wheeled out a parade of testimonials that would make a tent-revival preacher weep with envy.
Lynn Line, a local farmer, painted Hartz as some kind of agrarian saint: “They are not just a business owner. What business owner would come to the farm multiple occasions and either pack up our barns when we’re switching over chickens. Or unloading chickens. Mr. Tom would leave the farm covered in chicken manure. Never said a word carried on, went home, showered and went over to the restaurant.”
Look at him! Covered in chicken shit! Surely a man willing to get chicken shit on his shoes deserves cut-rate public land!
Stephanie Line, a Simple Food Group waitress, turned on the waterworks right on cue: “They help not just local producers and farmers, they also help young people in the community to help figure out what they want to do with their life, open their doors, give them responsibilities. Teach them some things I still know how to make bread. Thanks to Yang, and I still know how to me is in pause. Thanks to Tom for continuing to put that word in my head.”
The emotional manipulation was thick enough to cut with a knife.
Bill Kahn delivered the kill shot locals versus outsiders, us versus them: “So we’ve heard a number of people here talking about the importance of being in the Community and how it resonates and what it means for real residents. And we’ve just heard an example of what it means to be a developer from outside the community who doesn’t know the property across the street is available for development.”
Beautiful. Anyone who might bid against Hartz was by definition an outsider who didn’t understand “community values.”
Hartz himself wrapped himself in the mantle of civic virtue like a politician at a church social, invoking dead architects and regenerative business philosophy: “Quoting Samuel Mockbee of Rural studio, a business what we call a regenerative business like simple is used to provide opportunities to their employees for growth equity and a thriving wage. We can use our resources to purchase ingredients from people like Lynn and businesses we know, keeping the resources close to home.”
He rolled through his charitable contributions like a priest reading benedictions: “Regenerative businesses like Simple is used to enrich the business community in Lake Geneva with locally owned, unique businesses that continue the cycle of enriching our neighbors… To support local nonprofit organizations who helped build resilience. Excuse me, builds resilience in our residents provides food for the Walworth County diaper and Food Bank. Provide funds for side-by-side Special Olympics. The YMCA, the Lions Club, the Walworth County Housing Authority. Open Arms free. Clinic treats for the Lake Geneva Police and fire departments. The Rotary, the Treehouse regenerative business like Simple, can provide space and food for a church whose sanctuary was damaged in a fire for a Good Friday meal.”
The message was clear: question this deal and you’re against charity, puppies, and the American way.
Pages-from-Council_1_26-26-2Hartz concluded with messianic fervor: “We believe that we have proven ourselves over the last 16 years that we are a regenerative business. We are a company that actively restores or improves natural social and economic systems.”
Almost made you forget he was getting prime real estate without competitive bidding.
Timeline Contradictions Emerge
Then Hartz dropped this beauty, claiming ancient property rights: “and to the question of others not knowing that the property could be purchased. I believe for over 19 years.”
Except here’s where the whole fairy tale collapses like a house of marked cards. Former Mayor Charlene Kline who defeated Hartz in 2020 and held office until Todd Krause beat her in 2024 tells a different story entirely. Hartz approached her about buying this property, and she told him to pound sand because the land was reserved for a future fire station and wasn’t for sale. Period.
So much for the “available for 19 years” horseshit.
The City Administrator laid out the actual timeline with all the enthusiasm of a coroner reading autopsy results: “Simple Food group came and made their first presentation of the Common Council. Subsequent to that, on September 8th, the Common Council reviewed and ultimately adopted a land use or city of land sale policy. They approved that by you all approved that by unanimous vote. At that same meeting, you voted to approve by voice vote to move forward. With the evaluation of Sheridan Springs property under the new policy. That said review did take place between then and it was brought back to the Council on September 22nd. At that point, the Council approved the designation of surplus property by 5 to 3 vote… On December 8th… the Council voted to approve direct negotiation with the simple food group by a vote of seven to one… on January 12th, the Council voted to direct staff to issue a counteroffer with terms as discussed in closed session that was approved by a vote of seven to.1.”
Notice the pattern? They passed a brand-new policy, designated the property surplus, and locked in exclusive negotiation rights all within a few months. Smoother than Kentucky bourbon going down.
Legal Concerns Raised and Dismissed
City Attorney Dan Draper tried to warn them presented the council with a recent Wisconsin Court of Appeals decision that could blow up their closed-door shenanigans but they ignored him like a letter from the IRS.
The memo cited “a resent case decided in the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, State of Wisconsin ex rel Oitzinger v. City of Marinette,4l5 Wis.2d 635 (Wis. App.2025). Very basically, the case stands for the proposition that ‘the burden is on the governmental body to show that competitive or bargaining interests require closed session under…$19.85(1)(e), Wis Stats.’ State ex rel. Citizens for Responsible Development v. City of Milton, 300 Wis. 2d,649,731 N.W.2d 640 at 649 flfl9-10. The Oizinger case further stands for the proposition that ‘…the governmental body must begin its discussion in an open session, place the initial discussion of the subject matter on the record, and clarify why a specific topic with that discussion requires a closed session prior to voting to go into closed session.’ Oitzinger, at fl38.”
Memo-Dan-Draper-Sheriden-Springs-Land-saleLegal warnings? From their own attorney? Hell, they had a train to catch and public land to unload.
Council Divided on Transparency and Fiduciary Duty
Alderperson Frame gushed like a teenager at a boy band concert: “On this Council, because I love Community and this is what the public wants, the residents want this, they want community, feel local and everything. So I personally want to thank you for all you’ve done. I am in favor of this.”
She’d swallowed Hartz’s promises whole, hook and sinker: “You stated that you would take care of the construction and the access without trouble without question rather and you would provide parking and enhance your parking lot and every time you’ve given a presentation, you’ve always reminded us. Of the fact that you are going to provide the access to Hillmoor and the parking by expanding your lot and access to your stores and you were willing, willing to carry that load.”
How fucking gullible can you get?
Alderperson Fesenmaier at least understood basic logic about parking infrastructure: “We also only have one remote parking lot that’s under our control. I don’t think it makes sense. To depend on other businesses or other entities for remote parking, we know from the trolley discussion that we need to get this plan going for an alternate route downtown and we can use this parking lot. That’s my objection. I tried to have lots separated out lot 1 separated out. And the Council refused to do that. So, I will continue to unfortunately vote against the whole project because I believe we need to retain the ownership of LOT 1 and control.”
But logic? In this chamber? You might as well bring a knife to a gunfight.
Alderman Hoiland delivered a devastating critique of their transparency theater: “you know, I take transparency pretty seriously” he said, before acknowledging his own role in creating the policy that enabled this clusterfuck.
He continued with brutal clarity: “There are a number of other businesses along Sheridan Springs Rd., so no contact was ever made with any of those. No outreach was made. Another factor, as I look at, is we’re looking to hire some staff people. We’ve done more public notice on those two or three. Staff openings, you know, we’ve printed on the city website that we have job openings… So, wait a second, we’re doing more public notice of opportunity. For job openings than we have done for this property being for sale. There’s no notice of opportunity for that sale, so I don’t know how we as a governing body can make a decision when in fact no opportunity for sale has been presented. The last thing I’ll say is from a governance perspective, we as a City Council have a responsibility to be fiduciaries for our community. We have a serious responsibility.”
More publicity for hiring a secretary than for selling millions in public land. Let that marinate in your brain for a minute.
Alderman Smith pleaded for basic due diligence: “I look at it not only from the fiduciary side of it, but the due diligence side of it and the things that we’ve now heard tonight, which again I’ll start off by. Saying I think what’s Simple and the stories that we’ve heard tonight are fantastic, and maybe that’s where we end up, but let’s do our due diligence to make sure that we have heard everything”
But due diligence and fiduciary duty were concepts that sailed over the heads of the majority like a 747 over a henhouse.
Mayor Krause that magnificent bastard doubled down on the lies with the confidence of a three-card monte dealer on Broadway: “The people are here; the people want us to represent them. We’ve done everything in this policy from beginning to end. Look, that land has been on the market since I was on the Council years.19 years I think it’s correct, former mayor, 19 years spent sitting there for years. It had a for sale sign on it for years. There was a sign for sale on that property with no interest.”
Except we know from former Mayor Kline’s own mouth that between 2020 and December 2025, this land was NOT for sale. It was reserved. During that period, asset prices went absolutely apeshit—gold, stocks, real estate, everything. That’s what happens when governments worldwide start injecting monetary heroin straight into the economy’s veins.
Alderperson Ames delivered her nativist paranoia wrapped in concern: “We’ve been here long enough. Yeah, and I’m sorry, but I have a lot of people who say to me. Where do these people come from and want us to change our community? To benefit them because they didn’t like where they came from. So now they’re coming here and now they want us to turn to what they came from.”
She accidentally stumbled onto one valid point when the masses discover a place through social media, they love it to death. The very popularity that draws people destroys what they came looking for. Still voted to sell.
Alderperson Yeager read from state statutes like a defense attorney hunting for technicalities, finding the bare minimum legal cover: “It says a municipality may but is not required to use a competitive bidding process when selling a property. A municipality may just as well choose to list the property with a real estate broker or establish any other reasonable sales procedure, which we have done as a Council. When a party is interested in buying a particular parcel of land from a municipality. And it initiates discussion with the municipality about the possibility of purchasing the parcel. The municipality may negotiate exclusively with the interested party and need not publicly advertise the properties availability before selling the property to the interested property.”
Translation: It’s legal, so it’s ethical! The Nuremberg defense of municipal real estate.
Alderperson Powers, dialing in via Zoom, delivered the most honest statement of the night: “I think there has not been the kind of transparency that much of our community was expecting. I can’t say that I don’t disagree with lot 1 being reserved for our own personal parking lot and access on the North End. I’ve been here a long time like Sherri, like Mary Joe, like you, Todd and I want community. And I feel strongly that our most of the Community wants this, but have we been Transparent? Have we? Have we?”
She voted against it. At least somebody’s conscience was still functioning.
Counter-OfferImmediate Contradiction on Parking
And here’s the beautiful punchline, the cherry on top of this sundae of civic malfeasance: immediately after voting to sell their only remote parking lot, the council moved forward with plans to purchase two used trolleys for a park-and-ride shuttle service.
Read that again. They sold the parking lot. Then voted to buy trolleys that need… a parking lot.
You cannot make this shit up.
Voting to sell to Tom Hartz’s Simple Group: Vice President Cindy Yager, Alderpersons: Sherri Ames, Linda Frame, Cathy Stoodley and Todd Krause.
Voting not to sell: Joel Hoiland, JaNelle Powers, Brian Smith and Council President Mary Jo Fesenmaier
The deed is done. The transaction moves forward. Questions remain will forever remain about whether the city received fair market value or whether the public just got royally screwed by people they trusted with the keys to the municipal treasury.
Welcome to Lake Geneva, where democracy goes to die in closed session and resurfaces as a pre-ordained vote in favor of whoever knew the right people at the right time.
The bastards won this round. But at least we know their names.
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